By Victoria Manning | Restoration News
Should President Trump pardon officers punished by the Biden administration?
A group of retired senior military officers has sent a formal request to President Trump to “order full and unconditional pardons” for members of the armed services who exercised their rights of conscience and refused mandated vaccines.
The retired officers represent a non-profit called Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services, or STARRS. STARRS commended President Trump for his recent pardon of Lt. Mark Bashaw, but says more service members deserve the same treatment.
President Trump took immediate action to end wokeness in the military, but STARRS wants justice for those who have not yet received a remedy. Their efforts not only include the mandated COVID vaccine, but also seek justice for service members who refused the anthrax vaccine from 1997-2003.
Several retired senior ranking military officers formed STARRS in 2020 to oppose politicization and woke ideologies pushed across the military. STARRS was one of the first organizations to actively advocate against the COVID vaccine mandate for service members and to expose diversity, equity, and inclusion propaganda in the military.
STARRS launched a tip line for military members negatively impacted over their refusal to take the COVID or anthrax vaccines, or diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology.
Lt. Bashaw, recently pardoned by Trump, was prosecuted in 2022 for violating orders to comply with COVID mitigation measures at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. He showed up to work without a negative COVID test and opted out of wearing a mask.
After Bashaw’s conviction, the military prosecutor, Col. Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman—now a Virginia Congressman—said he was “proud” of the “first in the nation conviction.”
Bashaw was court-martialed—which gave him a criminal record—and after 17 years of service he was discharged in 2023. Trump’s pardon wipes out his criminal record.
Upon hearing of his pardon, Bashaw posted a Thomas Jefferson quote on social media:
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without a rudder, is the sport of every wind.
STARRS Seeks More Pardons
STARRS recently asked President Trump to “order full and unconditional pardons, amnesty and remedies for all Service Members negatively impacted, in any way, by the military’s anthrax and COVID mandates.”
STARRS Executive Vice President and General Counsel Michael Rose told Restoration News that since Secretary Hegseth has declared the COVID vaccine mandate an unlawful order, all service members negatively impacted should receive immediate remedies.
Secretary Hegseth has ordered reinstatement for service members kicked out over the COVID vaccine mandate and to have any related disciplinary actions removed from their records.
Compounding this issue, potentially thousands of members voluntarily left the military rather than get kicked out over the vaccine mandate. Some may have left the military because they failed to promote after they refused the vaccine.
STARRS emphasizes that anthrax vaccinations from 1997-2003 “were formally declared by federal officials to be ‘unlawful as implemented.’ STARRS advocates for all service members negatively impacted for refusal to take the anthrax vaccine to receive appropriate remedies.”
The Military Department Review Boards are administrative bodies within each branch of the military that can correct service members’ records. Sec. Hegseth has tasked these boards with determining who qualifies to return to service. According to STARRS that process has not yet provided them with “effective and timely remedies.”
Service members who have been unsuccessful in seeking remedies through the Defense Department can reach out to STARRS for help by completing a form on their website.
STARRS wants President Trump to consider more pardons for service members like the one given to Lt. Bashaw. These retired and former military officers continue to serve their nation by advocating for service members who’ve been harmed.
Sec. Hegseth would be wise to consider their recommendations for those harmed by punitive actions of the previous administration.
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Victoria Manning is a Senior Investigative Researcher for Restoration News specializing in education freedom, abortion, and immigration, and the author of Behind the Wall of Government Schools. Victoria served 8 years as an elected school board member with a master’s degree in law. She also brings the perspective of a military spouse and mother to her reporting.
First published on Restoration News
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